By performing a trademark search your aim is to discover if any trademarks are in existence, which may be relevant to your choice of a mark or affect the outcome of your own trademark application. Based on the trademark search results you will be able to determine whether or not your mark is cleared for registration (registerable). If you know what trademarks were filed before your Trademark then you may decide to tweak, edit or change your mark before you file a Trademark application to help assure its registration. We always recommend a pre-screening.

Step 1 – How to Patent an Idea: Document your Invention: Complete the form: At least have a Title, List of Parts (mark photos or drawings to identify parts by name); List of Advantages; Description of drawings, figures, photos, hand drawings; Summary of how parts are assembled; Summary of how invention is used.

Patent pending (sometimes abbreviated as “pat. pend.” or “pat. pending”) or “patent applied for” may be used on a product after the inventor has filed for a patent (provisional or non-provisional patent) and is waiting to see if the patent is granted by the US Patent Office but prior to the patent being issued or the application abandoned.

A US patent application that cover any new, original and ornamental design for a product of manufacture, such as the 3D configuration of a product like a vase, door knob, fender of a car, a desk phone and the like. A Design Patents have a term of 14 years in the US and protect only the appearance of the article and not structural or useful features. Appearance includes visual ornamental characteristics embodied in, or applied to, an article of manufacture, including configuration or shape of an article, surface ornamentation applied to an article, or to the combination of configuration and surface ornamentation of an article of manufacture.

A non provisional or utility patent is a US application that meets all the requirements of patentability set forth by the US Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO). Patents in the US generally have a term of 20 years from the date on which the earliest application for the patent was filed. The written document of a non provisional patent comprises a specification, which includes a title, technical field, background, brief summary, brief description of the drawings, detailed description of the preferred and selected alternate embodiments, one or more claims, an abstract, and one or more formal drawings of the invention.

Provisional applications are US patent applications for a patent which do not mature into an issued patent (i.e., they are not examined by the USPTO) unless further steps are taken by the applicant within twelve (12) months of filing the provisional application. Such applications are designed to provide lower cost and less formal application for patent by reducing the formal requirements, such as, not requiring formal drawings, claims, oath and declarations, or an information disclosure statement.

A patent search is a search of issued patents and published patent applications that are relevant or related to your invention, which may be considered important “prior art” references when applying for a patent. Prior art is any product, publication, or patent, that may be relevant or related to your invention. In order to be patentable your invention must have a new part or element not found in prior art to be new or novel. A patent searcher reviews the drawings and text of US patents and patent applications to determine whether your invention is new and determines the scope of potential patentability.

We help companies find manufacturing facilities capable of producing components or assemblies to high-quality standards in the US or in countries where it is strategically advantageous.
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